mok am 01.08.2017 auf kickstarter.com hat geschrieben:Update #1: Time To Look At The Game

We are already over 50% of the Goal!

Almost 24 hours into the campaign and to all of those that have pledged so far I thank you. If you do have any questions, feel free to send me an email or post it in the comments section. My email is mok@killerbeesoftware.com.

It is time to look at a little of the game. A couple of weeks ago I contacted Das Tactic of You Tube. He likes to play TBS type games, and appears to be a Dominions and Dwarf Fortress nerd. He was gracious enough to take a look at the game a couple of weeks ago...and I was thrilled to find out he loved it – and he had never played it before. I was not aware that over this weekend he has already done two live streams of the game!

For the record, Das is not being paid by me and only agreed to do videos as he liked the game. His views are his own and he will comment on the game as he sees fit and has not been instructed by me in any way. Though it is not for everyone, I feel that the game stands for itself after 40 some odd years. Das is a great guy, and you should look at his other videos and subscribe to him as well if you find him interesting. I hope he will stream some more Empire Deluxe. If he does, I will try to post them here when I see they are up, but the best way to be notified that he is doing something is to subscribe to his channel.

Tomorrow, I plan on posting some details on the unit sets. There are a couple of changes to the Enhanced set from EDEE that I would like to highlight at that time. So EDEE fans definitely look for that.

So we have surpassed the minimum financial goal! This establishes the reality the game is going to be moving toward production. I am quite excited. I really did not think the goal would be reached this quickly. For those of you that have already pledged, I thank you. I truly appreciate it and it is my goal to make the game as best as I can.

I know through messages that many have not been able to pledge yet, and I do encourage everyone to stay tuned and pledge when they can. This Kickstarter will remain in business until August 28th, and I have several things to share with you so make sure you stay tuned in. Hopefully you won't grow too tired of almost daily updates. I want you to be familiar with the game and what you have gotten yourself into. I also hope to have a special surprise in one of my updates, but we are still a little ways from that.

So we are not stopping. A more important goal is building and increasing the community size. A large group of Empire players will help us reach critical mass, and then we can possibly have map sharing and new AI players, and perhaps some of you can organize competitions.

So please continue to share this campaign with your friends or where you hang out on the Internet. And if you are new to the game, drop a line in the comments section and we will welcome you.

Regarding stretch goals - I do not want to over promise anything so at this time as I do not have any stretch goals planned. I do have further ideas and plans for the game, but that is for another time.

So onward to Unit Descriptions - Below I will provide a link to a pdf file with details about some of the various units. Some of this information will be familiar to veteran players, but new to those who have not played before. Please forgive any typos or incorrect information that may surface in the document.

However, for veterans, as I had previously mentioned, there are some changes to the Enhanced Set of units. Most noticeably the Patrol Boat. Previously it was restricted to moving on shallow seas. It now moves on deep seas at a reduced rate (1 sq per turn), and it can carry an infantry unit. Seeing as its production time is much less than that of a Transport, it can help get you across a small water gap quickly while expanding.

The other large change is Supply Units do not exist anymore. Supply can be produced by Cities and Oilfields, but is no longer in unit form. It can be moved via a concept of supply routes. Supply rules will be discussed in detail later.

There are also some very minor changes, such as production times were reduced for conventional missiles, and armor units can abandon their vehicles and change into Infantry.

I will also note here that there is a Unit Set Modification capability, which will also be discussed at a later date.

Wow! We have reached 300+ pledges. Like I mentioned yesterday, an important goal is to increase the community size so we can enjoy the creativity within the group. I am very thankful for everyone's support.

Yesterday, I got an email from a fan, as well as saw a FB post of his. It was Peter Adkison, whom you may know as the original founder of Wizards of the Coasts (titles like Magic The Gathering, DnD after TSR and more), or his current role as the owner of the huge and long running GEN CON gaming convention (it's their 50th year this month!), But to you and me, he is your typical Empire Deluxe player!

If you happen to be fortunate enough to be attending GEN CON gaming convention in a couple of weeks, and see him hanging out, shake his hand as a fellow member of the club.

So, What's New For Fans of EDIE? This is a really hard question to answer, as EDIE essentially originates back to 1993 and the simple answer would be "a lot" or "almost everything". But there are some of the few important things that can be quantified. Hopefully some of them will peak your interest.

For those who mostly play EDIE's Basic, Standard or Advanced game, there are some nice things that come with EDCE. I do want to note one goal is game play rules have not changed. So you still have the same game as before. But now, you should have a better, more modern program and more options.

Terrain Types: EDCE adds Mountain Peaks, Hills, Snow terrain types. The types can be optionally ignored when using the stock world builders.

Map Making: You get access to the enhanced map maker. Which adds a variety of options for map making. So you will have two map makers to chose from – which will be open sourced for you to improve upon. You can also roll your own.

Unlimited Map sizes: While 20 squares is still the minimum, you determine the max. (or maybe your machine determines it for you when it starts to thrash). The days of 640K hard limits are behind us.

Additional Victory Conditions: EDIE works solely on an annihilation victory. In EDCE, you can add the new Victory Conditions to your game.

Custom Unit Sets can be created if you wish to just add one new unit, or a whole bunch.

You can now develop AI players specifically used for the earlier sets. In fact, the easiest AI code for would probably be one that only uses the Basic Game Units. .

...And a lot more which will be disclosed when I post a list of new EDEE things tomorrow.

One word of warning though and I will mention this several times in the coming days; There will be an adjustment curve, which both EDIE and EDEE players will face. The interface for the game is different enough to where even though it looks familiar, it will feel foreign at first as you figure out what and how to click. You have to remember you have been playing the same program for practically 25 years, so it is in your muscle memory!

The tutorial should be helpful for this adjustment, but I think a few simple/small play-throughs as well as helpful community support should get you used to it. Watch some of Das Tactics's videos, like his Advanced Game One, if you want to see how he is playing, and I personally will be streaming a session live on Twitch where we can Q&A with the game up next week.

So tomorrow I hope to bring out more changes, with a focus on differences from EDEE.

I really want to thank everyone that has pledged so far. Yesterday, the number of pledges grew by roughly 13%! As I have mentioned before, building an active community is very important for the game. And it looks that is happening.

Speaking of active community, several fans are discussing ideas about what they want to do with custom AI players. I think they are wanting to work together, or at least share ideas. Perhaps you should join the conversation. I think they are trying to hang on a newly formed reddit for Empire Deluxe.

In a couple of weeks there will be more details on customizing the AI and the current AI players. My advice to this group is to first look at the existing AI's when they come out, and just tinker with it. I am sure there is low hanging fruit. Even though the AI is more accessible, it still can be quite involved in getting it to work the way you would like it. When the time comes I will definitely try to work with you. Very exciting stuff.

So what's new for fans of EDEE and EDIE?

In the last update, I posted a caution for all EDIE veteran players, that there will be an adjustment needed when starting to play EDCE. This warning applies to EDEE veterans as well. Since many of you have played EDEE for 15 years, there will need to be some level of adjustment made in how you play and look at the game. If you are aware of this going in, it will be much easier for you to make that adjustment.

There have been some changes to the enhanced unit set. These were described briefly in the Unit Descriptions update, Update #2. If you missed that, you should take a look.

There are several interface commands and concepts that are new, and make the game play faster, reducing the micro management pains that you can feel at times in games. I have found that the best way to play is a combination of using the numeric pad for stepping and the mouse for longer movement, as well as key bindings for you most frequently used commands.

The game now has a "Touch-it move it" paradigm when it comes to setting a movement location. With a unit active, simply clicking on a location will order the unit to begin movement to that location. This saves a great deal of time issuing these types of orders, so when you click on a location, make sure you mean it!.

Wait One Command: This command is useful for passing control of the active unit to the other side of a log jam. It has actually become my favorite command , as it tells the active unit to step back in the unit processing line by one. So many situations come up where you would love to just quickly move a neighboring unit first. Someone make sure I demo this why I do the live stream of the game on Twitch next week.

Activate Host/Activate Child: These commands are useful in the management of transporting situations like Carrier ops and invasion landings. For example, a transport with units comes up to an enemy and wants to attack, but it has movement points left. With the activate child, suddenly one of the transported units is active and ready to attack. Or perhaps a fighter is active on a carrier, but you want to move the carrier out first. Activating host will allow you to move the carrier first, without taking your hands off the keyboard or having to do a right-click-activate.

Graphs: Per-Turn data for City Count, Unit Count, Drain, Battle Intensity and other data points. It is always fun to watch your rise (or fall) from a historical perspective.

Efficiency Calculator: Accessible from the production screen, this dialog answers the question: what efficiency should I improve to in order to produce a unit the as efficient as I want? It will display the number of turns it take to produce a unit for initial and continuing production base on efficiency (and possibly city specialization). Making a selection will set the production to improve efficiency to the specified amount, then begin producing the desired unit. Here is a short, but extremely huge clip:

Improved AI Player API: Now the AI player comes with code examples and is written in C#, making AI development much more accessible. The C# compiler from Microsoft is very professional and free, and it will be what you need to build platform independent C# assemblies.

In the Map Editor you can now place spawn points - This enables you to build maps that can designate desired starting positions without setting up a scenario. Who gets what spawn point is a random thing.

Change Player Position Colors: I have been asked for this feature for ages. If you don't like how someone set the colors for your game? Now you can personalize them. This data is saved for your position within the game.

Works On a Mac: yep. Bill Gates has retired. No more Windows only. And Ubuntu too. One of the main reasons I chose Unity. There is a good potential for mobile ports as well.

Multiple Player Accounts: This may be confusing and feel free to ask questions, but I have added the concept of an account. The account is what tracks your stats and scores. this is NOT an over the Internet thing, but within the game program. You can change your commander name at any time and keep the same account. Want to test strategies and not taint your commander's reputation with false starts and losses? – Now you can run with a separate account. Or perhaps you want to statistically separate human and solitaire play. Use different accounts.

Visual updates and reports: A message report records important game events in list form. These events will have a location context when available. So if you click on an event from this list, you will go to that location. Battles, recon sightings, production events are some of the things reported here. The game will also still have the traditional Combat and Recon reports.

Access To Older Unit Sets: The Basic, Standard and Advanced sets are included. No more switching back to EDIE and a different, older interface. Fall in love with the Advanced Game all over again. It's pretty awesome.

There are plenty more, but I am going to cut it here. As mentioned, I will stream on Twitch next week (not firm but most likely Tuesday, August , where a lot of the focus will be the game and the interface. Tomorrow I will move on to Game Rules and Victory Conditions. A good topic to kick back with on a Saturday.

In this update, I would like to go into some detail on the optional Game Rules and Victory conditions available in EDCE.

Game Rules

The Game Rules In EDCE are for the most part a collection of rules which were used in the various games of play. Veteran players should be able to recognize many of them. The game is now set up so that the rules can be mixed and matched to the setup player's designs.

The rules are provided as a set of check boxes to allow you to make your choices. Each unit set has a list of “Suggested Rules”. So when you select a unit set, the rules are checked/unchecked accordingly. Then you get to mark up the rules to fit your specifications. The hard-coded units sets, (Basic/Standard/Advanced/Enhanced), follow the historical settings for these sets. The author of a custom Unit Set will be able to specify their own set of suggested rules.

Below is a screenshot of the current set of rules, there may be a few more added before production, depending on tester feedback when the time comes. This screen is visible during game setup. I also believe this Das Tactics video has him walk through some of them.

Game Rules

Exploration On - With this option you will need to move around the map to uncover it. The game begins with everything hidden. Spotting rules will also be in effect.

Continue Production Reduction - For every unit produced in a city there is a timed production cost in turns. With this rule enabled, after the first unity has been produced, if the type remains the same, each additional unit of this type will be produced at a different (traditionally one-sixth lower) rate.

Use City Efficiency - With a city efficiency, not all cities are equal. A particular city will produce a given unit either faster or slower based on its efficiency.

City Specialty Production - With this rule enabled, some cities on the map will be designated as having Unit Specialties. With a unit specialty, a City will produce the designated unit faster than it normally would, but will produce other units of a different type at a reduced rate.

Use Drain Rules - This enables the per turn production to be impacted by the resource drain. Essentially, this places a cap on the number of units you can have on the map before your production times get longer. The cap is a variable amount mainly determined by the number of cities you control. It is of strategic importance to note that this penalty is only applied when a unit is starting or continuing production. Once the turns to completion drop below the normal starting value, that individual production is not affected by drain until the unit is produced.

Allow Crippled Effects - Units are considered crippled when they have 50% or less of their hit points available. With this rules enabled, crippled units will only be able to move at half speed, and will have their battle odds reduced in combat.

Use Two Unit Stacking - When this rule is not enabled, you can only have one ground or air unit not hosted in any square at any given time. There is an exception to this, in that air units are permitted to "flyover" ground units but cannot end the turn stacked with another unit. If Two Unit Stacking is enabled, at the end of a turn an air unit and a ground unit can share the same square, or two air units, or two ground units in the case of a road.

Readiness/Experience Rules - Readiness is the measurement of fatigue in a unit. Experience determines the levels of Readiness available for a unit. With this rule enabled, combat units will gain experience with each hit scored, and decrease in readiness due to combat. Resting (not moving) will enable the unit to regain readiness.

Allow Defensive Fire - Some Range Fire units may have the capability of firing at moving enemy units in range when it is not their turn.

Allow Units To Dig-In - Certain ground units can Dig-In to their positions, giving them a defensive advantage but not allowing them to move until they Dig-Out.

Use Supply Rules - With this rule enabled, Supplies can be produced, transferred between cities, and used either to reduce the production drain or to speed up production times.

Allow Unit Scrapping - With this rule enabled, units disbanded in a city will create scrap. Generate enough scrap and it can be turned into supply.

Allow Resources - With this rule enabled, resource areas can appear on the map. This enables Oilfields to be produced, which in turn help build supply or reduce drain.

Use Road Rules - Terrain is a pain, mostly for mobile units like Armor, but some terrain is impassible even to Infantry. A road performs a couple of functions, first it allows some land units to pass through a terrain square at a better speed than they could otherwise, and second it allows land units to stack in a square, other rules permitting.

Allow Mines On Map - If you really don't mind those nasty things, enable this rule. Mines basically act like hidden Infantry ready to strike when moved upon.

Allow Nukes - Enabling this allows you to Nuke a square if you are able to successfully build, launch and detonate a nuclear missile.

Reveal Names For Sightings - Enemy sighting are fairly unspecific in naming a unit, but enabling this rule will allow you to know exactly which unit you are facing.

Use Harsh Supply Rules - Enable this rule and your cities reduce drain less and the number of units in play make it go up more.

Use Limited Resources - Every turn an Oilfield tries to build supply or reduce drain, it will decrease the number of resources in a square by one. Once the number of resources reaches zero the Oil Facility may just explode. If an oilfield is set to sentry, it will not do anything and therefore consume no resources.

Victory Conditions

For many years Empire Deluxe had only one Victory Condition, the Annihilation Victory, which basically meant you win when there is no one else left that can take a City.

In EDEE, and now with EDCE, we add some additional VC's that may make the game interesting. Some of the more obscure conditions from EDEE have been removed.

Victory Conditions

Capital Kill - Yeah, if you liked Command HQ you might enjoy this one. You start the game with a capital city, and that is that is the only City that truly matters. Once your opponent takes your's (or looking positively, you take their's) it's game over for the loser.

Regicide Victory - A special unit, The General, is added to the mix. You cannot produce this unit, but you start the game with a specified number of Generals which you are tasked with keeping alive. Generals act pretty much like Infantry, but they have special powers that allow them to attack a City and , if victorious, are still alive. However, if you lose that fight, you have one less General between you and being a loser. So perhaps it is best you let other units take the spear first.

Capture a Percentage of Cities - In this victory, you have to capture a specified percentage of Cities from the entire map. There is an additional variable to this condition in that it can be specified that once you reach the threshold for a City Percentage Victory, you must hold above that threshold for a specified number of turns.

Number of Important Cities to Capture - An Important City is a City designated as Important on the map. This designation can come either from being defined as a pre-made map from the editor, or from the World Builder you choose which is capable of designating Important Cities. There is also an additional variable to this condition that the cities must be held for a specified number of turns before Victory is declared.

Both the Game Rules and Victory Conditions are set during the game setup. Tomorrow I will review the game setup process in some detail.